Striking WestJet flight attendants picket outside Toronto Pearson International Airport on Sunday.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
WestJet flight attendants went on strike early Sunday, after they failed to reach a deal with the airline, causing major travel disruption in the middle of a busy summer long weekend.
Talks between the airline and the Canadian Union of Public Employees broke down late Saturday over the issue of wages and ground pay, which is the amount flight attendants get compensated for the work that they perform before a plane departs, and after it lands.
WestJet confirmed the strike and cancelled 600 flights as of Sunday. The airline said it was disappointed by the strike and remained available for the union to reach an agreement.
Thousands of passengers could be impacted as Westjet cancels flights amid a strike by its 4,400 flight attendants. Personal finance and travel expert Barry Choi says Canadians should know what compensation they are entitled to if their flight is disrupted.
The Canadian Press
“We presented a proposal that would have set a new standard for cabin crew in Canada, making WestJet the only airline to offer an hourly rate covering all time before and after flights, plus a double-digit wage increase in year one among other priorities the union raised,” said CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t accepted.”
The president of CUPE 8125, the local representing 4,400 WestJet flight attendants, said in a media release that the airline’s latest offer didn’t go far enough.
“We are on strike because we believe we deserve better,” said Alia Hussain. “We are ready to go back to the table to settle. We hope the federal government will not interfere and will let the bargaining process run its course. Unpaid work is a big piece of our priorities, but we are bargaining for a comprehensive contract.”
After the strike took effect, WestJet released the details of its latest proposal.
WestJet flight attendants, who are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), went on strike after failing to reach a deal with the country's second-largest air carrier.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
The deal offers a cumulative wage increase of 20.5 per cent over four years, including a one-time 13 per cent increase effective, October 2026. It also addresses the contentious issue of ground pay, or pre-boarding compensation for flight attendants. Specifically, WestJet has offered flight attendants a new “duty pay premium” (a 12 per cent salary increase), which it says is designed to address the union’s claim of unpaid work.
CUPE 8125 had issued a strike notice on Thursday morning, after 10 months of negotiations with the airline. The union said at the time that both sides were too far apart on the issue of wages and ground pay. Marathon negotiations continued through the weekend, but neither side made significant inroads on the core issue of compensation.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce called the strike an “unwelcome turn of events.”
Travellers look for guidance by the WestJet check-in counter at Toronto Pearson Airport amid widespread flight disruptions on Sunday.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
“Canadians are paying the price with a work stoppage now underway at WestJet,” Pascal Chan, vice-president, strategic policy and supply chains, said in a statement Sunday. “Travellers are stranded, time-sensitive goods are grounded, and businesses and communities across the country face further disruption during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.”
Last summer, Air Canada flight attendants went on strike over the exact same issue, resulting in hundreds of cancelled flights and days of delays. The flight attendants, also represented by CUPE, defied a back-to-work order issued by the government shortly after the strike began, and chose to unlawfully strike to compel Air Canada to come back to the bargaining table with new language around ground pay.
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CUPE has long argued that the airline industry’s compensation system for flight attendants needs an overhaul, specifically because flight attendants are required to work before takeoff and after landing without getting paid.
But WestJet disputes the notion that flight attendants do not get ground pay. The airline pays its cabin crew through a system known as “credit hours.” A credit hour rate is a negotiated hourly rate that the airline says is an inflated rate that accounts for work that flight attendants do on the ground.
The president of CUPE 8125, the local representing 4,400 WestJet flight attendants, said in a media release that the airline’s latest offer didn’t go far enough.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
The credit hour system, by virtue of its design, disproportionately benefits senior cabin crew members who tend to work long-haul flights and have less time on the ground in between flights. It is an inequity that the union was trying to resolve by pushing for ground pay.
Air Canada flight attendants ultimately won partial ground pay for its cabin crew last year, but the agreement, however, did not provide cabin crew with full pay for ground work.
The August, 2025, contract guaranteed junior Air Canada flight attendants with an immediate 12 per cent raise, and an additional 8.25 per cent over the remaining three years – the same wage increase that WestJet is proposing to its flight attendants. But the tentative agreement was never ratified by Air Canada flight attendants, with 99.1 per cent of them rejecting it, saying that wage increases were insufficient. In February, 2026, an arbitrator determined the terms of the contract, and maintained the proposed wage increases, much to the disappointment of flight attendants and CUPE.
The question that remains, now that WestJet flight attendants are on strike, is if and when Ottawa will intervene to end the strike. The government has used Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code numerous times to get workers back on the job, including during last year’s Air Canada strike. It is a clause that allows the government to direct the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to hold an arbitration to force a new contract.
Grounded WestJet aircraft are seen on the tarmac at Vancouver International Airport on Sunday.Chris Helgren/Reuters
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said in a statement on social media that she was disappointed that no deal could be reached to avoid a disruption, but did not say whether the government planned to intervene.
Unions have been highly critical of the government’s use of Section 107. They say Ottawa’s constant interventions undermine collective bargaining because it creates a loophole that works in favour of the employer and prevents them from proposing the best deal possible.
“I guess we are all waiting to see if 107 will be invoked,” said Larry Savage, professor of labour studies at Brock University. “It has become a backdoor way to neutralize pressure on employers instead of forcing them to bargain in good faith. If Ottawa steps in, the question is whether WestJet attendants will accept it quietly. Given what happened at Air Canada, that would be a risky assumption.”
With a report from The Canadian Press